Sea Star ends Philadelphia-Puerto Rico service as business falls

Monday 1 August 2011

August 1 - Sea Star Line, an ocean transportation company providing transportation services to and from North America, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Islands, has suspended its weekly call at Philadelphia, USA connecting to Port Tioga Marine Terminal San J

Traffic is now transferred from Philadelphia to its services from Jacksonville, Florida by land-bridge services.

"The maritime community in Philadelphia has been very supportive and great to work with but we have been unable to secure an adequate revenue stream to support this service," said Steve Hastings, president of Sea Star Line.

"We have invested millions of dollars in this service over the last sixteen months. The decision to suspend our service from Philadelphia was a very difficult one."

Sea Star Line, which describes itself as a "lift-on carrier for out-of-gauge cargoes" and operates container/ro-ro ships, launched the Philadelphia service in May, 2010, as reported on HLPFI's website.

June 5 - A fire broke out aboard Höegh Autoliners’ ro-ro vessel Höegh Xiamen yesterday (June 4) at Blount Island, Jacksonville, USA; there are no injuries to any of the 21 crew members, who have all been evacuated from the vessel.